In an industry largely separated into two worlds—lithographyLithography is the type of printing most people think of when talking about commercial printing.

Unlike relief and intaglio printing where the image to be printed is raised above or sunk below the surface of the printing plate, in lithography the printing surface is flat with both image and non-image areas at the same level on the printing plate. Invented in 1798 by Alois Senefelder, lithography uses the fact that oil and water don't mix as the basis of the printing process The offset lithographic process works by first transferring an image photographically to thin metal, paper, or plastic printing plates. Unlike other forms of printing, in offset lithography the image on the printing plate is not recessed or raised. Rollers apply oil-based ink and water to the plates. Since oil and water don't mix, the oil-based ink won't adhere to the non-image areas. Only the inked image portion is then transferred to a rubber blanket (cylinder) that then transfers the image onto the paper as it passes between it and another cylinder beneath the paper.

The term offset refers to the fact that the image isn't printed directly to the paper from the plates, but is offset or transferred to another surface that then makes contact with the paper and
flexographyFlexography is frequently used for printing on plastic, foil, acetate film, brown paper, and other materials used in packaging, flexography uses flexible printing plates made of rubber or plastic. The inked plates with a slightly raised image are rotated on a cylinder which transfers the image to the substrate.

Flexography uses fast-drying inks, is a high-speed print process, can print on many types of absorbent and non-absorbent materials, and can print continuous patterns (such as for giftwrap and wallpaper). Also known as flexographic printing or flexo, some typical applications for flexography are paper and plastic bags, milk cartons, disposable cups, and candy bar wrappers. Flexographic printing may also be used for envelopes, labels, and newspapers.—our company strives to be the leading, one-stop provider of both lithographic and flexographic services.

We offer our customers the best of both worlds. We are the West's most complete provider of high-quality printing, shrink sleeves, pressure-sensitive labeling and flexible packaging services. Our customers will tell you: when it comes to quality, no printer consistently delivers a better product than LithoFlexo.

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